Sheath for index cards



H. RAND. y SHEATH FOR INDEX CARDS.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 4, 192,1.

Patented 0015.111922.

JMSHRAND I Patented @et l?, 1922.

anche@ JAMES H. BAND, or NORTH Tonawnnna, NEW Yoan. l

SHE-ATH FOR INDEX CARDS.

Application led May 4,

To all whom 'it may concem:

Be it known that I, JAMES H. RAND, a citizen of therUnited States of America, and resident of North Tonawanda, in the county of Niagara and State of New York, have invented 'new `and useful Improvements in Sheaths for Index Cards, of which the following isa specification.

This inventionielates tol sheaths for attachment to index cards. 'In card indexes of various kinds it is common to provide cards which are used as supports or carriers for insert sheets or slips, guide cards, and guide tabs, with celluloid pockets, marginal bindings and reinforcements which are attached as component parts of the card structures at the time of their manufacture. The principal object of the present invention is to provide separately madesheaths which can be supplied tothe owners orusers of plain' cards, and can be by them easily and quickly attached to the cards to equip them With pockets' for insert or index sheets or slips, marginal bindings or reinforcements. The means by which such :sheaths are attached to cards in facto production are not practicable for users o indexes, and if a user who has .a card system installed desires Ythe advantages of such sheaths, he must "purchase an entire new equipment yand then transfer the entries. The labor and expense of so doing will. be apparent especially when f the system contains thousands of cards as is frequently the case. With vthe present invention he can quickly,- easily, and cheaply equip his existing system or other plain cards with they desired sheaths, Without duplicating the equipment orflaboriously transferring the entries.

- In the, accompanying drawings vwhich illustrate certain embodiments ofthe invention- Fig. 1 is a front View, partly broken away, ofv an index card with the sheath' attached thereto; I

Fig. 2 is an enlarged section on line 2-2 of F 1g. -1 i Fig. '3 is a fragmentary perspective view of the sheath, unattached;

Fi 4 illustrates anotherv use of the` sheat and Fig. 5 is a sectional view show ino' a modification.

ateferring first to l, 2 and 3; 6-represents a Acard such asis used in a so-called visible index having a series of overlapping cards mounted in a frame with their free edges projecting one beyond another to expose index characters. The supporting and spacing member, which maybe of any desired form, is indicated at 7.

The sheath, shown in Fig. las attached to the lower or free margin of the card 6, consists of a piece of sheet material, preferably sheet Celluloid which is both transparent and resilient, folded to form a troughyhaving a front Wall 8 and a rear wall 9. 'The trough may beY formed in any convenient length and cutolf by the userto a length appropriate to the desired use. One of the walls, as the rear wall 9, is preferably made wider than the other wall so as 'to yond it at its free edge.

Permanently secured to the. inner surface of the wider wall 9 is a strip of textile fabric 10 or other suitable sheet material, the exposed surface of which, that is the surface not-attached to the wall 9, is coated with a gum or any suitable adhesive material adapted, when moistened, to stick to the surface to which it is applied. rl`he strip l0 preferably extends substantially to the bottom of the trough. v

The sheath is so formed 'that the front and rear walls are yieldingly pressed toward each other by the resiliency of the sheet celluloid of which the device is made, and tend toepinch a card inserted therebetween.

To attach the sheath to the card, a wetl sure a firm union between the wall 9 and the card 6 without requiring the parts tolbe otherwise held under pressurennntil dry. Thus the sheath may be very easily and quickly applied as it requires merely to be moidstened 'and slipped onto'theedge of the car While itis preferred to make thewall 9, whichr has the adhesive coated strip, wider than the other wall, the device would operate, thoughl perhaps less 'eciently if the wall 9 carrying the adhesive strip were no project somewhat be- The pinch Y l vWider than the other. In thiscase the mois ,ture would be applied along the crac-k at the entrance or top of the trough, and the mois-v ture would tend to run into the trough onto the surface of. thevadhesive strip, aided by the edge of theV card when the latter is inserted.

The front Wall 8 preferably terminates'at its free edge in an inwardl folded lip 11, which makes a smooth roun ed entrance for the edge of card 6', and for an insert card or sheet 12 (Fig. 1) when the latter is inserted in the pocket formed by the sheath; but the lip 11 may be omitted if preferred. V

In Fig. 4 the sheath is shown as a binding and reinforcement for the edge of a ltab 6b of a card .6a adapted for a guide card or index element of the kind commonly used in trays or drawers.V Excepting that the sheath is shorter, its construction and` mode of applica/tion are the same as already describedf-'In this instance the front Wall 8 forms with the face of the tab 6b a pocket' or slideway into which anindex strip bearing the desired inscription `may be inserted.

In the modification shown in Fig. 5 the,

' sheath itself constitutes the tab and is applied to a straight edge'card 6 having no tab formed thereon. The rear IWall 9a is made of sufficient width to insure a firm and 'stiff attachment to the margin of the card, i which does not extend into the trough. The

front wall 8a terminates at about the edge of the card and-is finished with an inturned lip 11, Thus a projectingv tab structure is formed having a hollow or tubular pocket openlat its ends, into which an index'slip 13 may be inserted. In this form only the gummed fabric 10 on the projecting part of the rear Wall 9a need be moistened. And as only that part of the gummed fabricwhich is on the projecting part of the wall 9a-is used for attachment to the card body', the partl of the gummed fabric which extends underneath the front Wall 8a may, if desired, be omitted.

I claim :h

1. A sheath4 for index cards comprising a piece of sheet material folded to form a trough, havingn one` Wall wider than the other, and astrip of sheet'material permanently secured to the inner surface of the Wider Wall only of the trough, the exposed surface ofthe strig being provided with 'an adhesive adapted, when moistened, to secure the sheath to the margin of an index card.

2.` A sheath for index cards comprising a f JAMES H. RAND, 

